Haunted venue #2

As I mentioned last night, I had my best show ever! It was so exciting, that even though I was exhausted, I had a hard time getting to sleep.

Boy did I regret that this morning. I was booked to sing at a wedding this afternoon, so I got myself up and ready this morning looking forward to playing. I took off with plenty of time so that I'd be able to set up my keyboard and still have time to walk around (it was outside at an old lighthouse), I didn't quite plan on being lost for AN HOUR! I pulled in just in the nick of time, thank goodness. They had an amazing setting, with a beautiful day. Look at the backdrop!



And then I had to take a picture of the lighthouse. Now the legend is, the groom's great great aunt haunts this place, and she got married at this very lighthouse 120 years ago, to the day. Pretty cool, huh? That brings my haunted venue number up to 2 on this tour. I didn't feel any sort of presence as we were there, but they did leave a chair open for her just in case she decided to take a seat!



Tonight I played in Neenah, WI at my friend Eric's coffee shop. It's a great little place with a lot of character. I was competing with a Packer game, so attendance was down since I'm sure a lot of people were at home watching the game, but what can you do? Someday I'll be able to compete with the Pack, but not quite yet. :)

Tomorrow morning I am playing at my parents' church, and then I'm taking off the evening. The Minneapolis trip is cancelled, so instead I'm going to spend the afternoon and evening hanging out with my parents and brother. I'll take a picture of the sunset at their cottage, and I think you'll understand why the cottage won out over playing a few songs at an open mic!

My best show ever!

Ok, so just a quick blog tonight because I'm so sleepy! I just had to tell you about my show at The Cup O' Joy!! This is the best show that I've ever played...I had so much fun! The room was packed, the sound system is amazing, I sold a bunch of CDs, and they gave me a tin of cookies in the green room! (Don't worry, I only ate one.)



Plus, they made a DVD of my performance tonight, so I will be able to post a few more songs on youtube...yay. I'll let you know as soon as I have anything new posted. One of the coolest parts of tonight was seeing a lot of friends. I enjoyed catching up with everyone, and as always, meeting new people as well. And something really cool? My two piano teachers were there tonight to hear me play. I would have to say...they probably both liked "Back to Piano" the most! How wonderful of them to come out and support me!



Again, sorry for the short blog, but I'm really tired and need to get some rest! Tomorrow afternoon I'm playing at a wedding (at a haunted lighthouse...I'll keep looking for ghosts...maybe friends of the ghost from The Rider Inn??), and then tomorrow night I'm playing in Neenah, WI at The Rock Island Cafe. Then Sunday morning I'm playing at Calvary Lutheran Church and Sunday night I'll be hanging out with my family as I take the evening off. (Sorry Minneapolis friends, the house concert fell through...I'm really sorry and I'll get something set up soon!)

Thanks again so much for following along with my adventures, and yay to the best night ever!!

Home sweet home!

I know that I've lived in Connecticut for years, but there's something about coming back to the place where you grew up, you know? It's so easy here in Green Bay, I know where everything is, I know all of the street names - I don't even need to turn the Garmin on! (THAT has been amazing by the way...I've gotten to check out a lot of things because of this GPS, I highly recommend getting one if you travel a lot.)

Anyway, yesterday morning I left a rainy Chicago (by the way...people are terrible drivers when it's raining, but that's for another blog) and I quickly arrived at the "Welcome to Wisconsin" sign! I of course had to snap a picture of it through the window.



I arrived in Madison at lunch time, so I found a wifi coffee house to eat some food and get some e-mails done before walking around Madison. (By the way, thanks everyone for the e-mails, the facebook messages, I really appreciate all of the support and well-wishes!) Madison is a really cool town, especially right now. A lot of kids were starting to come back into town getting ready for school - I saw a lot of very full cars and lots of boxes! One of the first places that I walked to was the capitol building. Isn't it nice?



Then I walked down State Street, which is the main shopping street...it's very fun. They have a lot of clothing boutiques, funky hippie stores, coffee shops, and even a cheese shop! I thought all of you would like to see this sign...Wisconsin people sure know their cheese, and this store will mail it to you anywhere!




After getting my fill of college-town, I needed to head back to my car and put money in the meter. On the way I saw a familiar face in a coffee shop window! My friend Al was sitting there working, so I popped in to say hello! He was there working on his thesis paper (he's getting in Phd in viruses or something, he's really smart...) basically, he's working on curing the swine flu. How great would that be! I of course told him about all of my Mexico travels, and the fact that Bryan and Simply Smiles had to cancel a bunch of volunteer groups due to the H1N1 virus, and he filled me in on everything. Basically, we know nothing yet. Great, huh? But if you need an expert opinion, I've got the guy for you to call!

Anyway, Al needed to get back to work and I wanted to go sit outside and read my magazine, so he sent me off to a cool park on the water. Check out this view! That's Madison from the other side of the lake, isn't that a good-looking town?



I hung out and read my People Magazine for a while, and after I caught myself up on John and Kate, I thought it might be time to get set up at The Brink Lounge. I met a friend at the park who really wanted to come with me to the show, but they have a pretty strict "no duck" rule at The Brink. Maybe next time.



The show at The Brink was really fun. I got to see some friends from college and even a friend from high school! It was great to catch up and find out how people have been since my tour last year. Two of my FAVORITE fans of all time were there as well. Henry and Bryn are two of the cutest little people, don't you think? They helped me load up my gear when I was done at the end of the night. According to Henry, it was really cool to help me, so I'm thinking about hiring him for the rest of the tour!



After I was done with the show and catching up with people, I made the trip up to Green Bay so that I could sleep in this morning. It was great. :) I went out to lunch with my parents, and in a few minutes I'm going to get home to practice for my show tonight at The Cup O' Joy. This is a great listening room, and the BEST music venue in Green Bay. If you're in town I hope you can make it!

Is it a problem if I'm already sick of driving??

I had so much fun at The Rider Inn last night, that I just didn't want to leave this morning! (Maybe the other reason I didn't want to leave was because I knew I might be sick of being in the car by the time I reached Chicago, but who knows...)

Anyway, I tried to keep myself entertained with my camera. The first milestone of the day...my car reached 75,000 miles! And I happened to look down at that exact moment! So I thought, I should definitely share that with you. Aren't you glad? Plus, you'll notice, that it was a much cooler day today. Only 80 degrees, phew.



Then, I saw the worst tarp job on the back of a truck ever. Keep in mind, I spend a lot of time in Mexico and I married an Eagle Scout, so I know a thing or two about knots. And if I don't know how to do it or don't know the name of the specific knot, I at least know more than to ever leave the driveway with a loose tarp! This thing was flapping like crazy...unacceptable.



After I overcame my shock at the lack of tying ability (seriously, it's not that hard...) I pulled up next to a tractor-trailer truck that had THREE trailers! I've never seen such a thing! I had to snap a photo to prove that it existed. Right after I nearly killed myself trying to take the photo and prove to all of you that such a thing does exist, I passed about seven more. So, it turns out it's not that big of a deal. Bummer. I thought I had made some kind of trucking discovery.



After the truck disappointment I started trying to take a photo of a hawk that was flying around over the highway...seriously impossible, I don't know what I was thinking. Then I started just taking photos of the green fields...they're beautiful, but as you can see...quite boring.



After a LOT of green field photos (you can look at my iPhoto library later if you're up for it!) I saw an exit for Bryan and decided that might be a good place to pull off and walk around.



Boy am I glad that I did. The first thing to find me in the parking lot...the Fun Finder!! Now some of you know, Bryan and I have been looking for a new place to live, and I think I have found it. It's a score, and it's actual name is the Fun Finder! Who wouldn't want to live in that? Plus, I'd never have to rent a hotel room on a tour again!!



When I got inside the rest area, I bought a soda and some Gardetto's (I like to gold-mine the brown circles) and with the change I thought it would be cool to make one of those flattened pennies. Well, I picked the "I Love You Ohio" design because I had such a good time last night, but the machine was off by just a tiny bit I think, because my penny only reads..."I Love You hio". That means nothing. But I put it in my car anyway as a little momento.



I know you're dying to know all of these details, but I just have one more crazy thing to tell you, and then I'll fill you in on Chicago. As I was driving and trying to take pictures of flying hawks I saw something coming at me through the air. I thought it was a bird (like a robin or sparrow or something) because it was so big and dark, so I was pretty upset when it HIT THE FRONT OF MY CAR! I felt really bad, but then went back to photo taking because I was very focused on the hawk picture. Anyway, long story short, as I was returning to my car with my souvenir penny I noticed something in the grill of my car. It was a huge, beautiful black and yellow butterfly. Poor guy was probably just flying along and then, BAM right into my car. Didn't even know what hit him. Either that or he was suicidal. I guess we'll never know.



After all of this excitement...I arrived in Chicago. Tonight was a tough show because people who thought they were going to make it couldn't, people who were on their way got stuck in traffic, and so on. But those of us who were there had a lot of fun! My friend from college, Kirsten came, and I haven't seen her in so long! And tonight I'm sleeping at my friend Luke's house. We were just figuring out how long we've known each other...we met in the 3rd grade or so! Can you believe that? Not only that, but we dated briefly in the 4th grade. It was a relationship that lasted a few weeks, but we worked through the awkwardness after the breakup and we've been able to stay friends. Luckily, Julia (his wife) is cool with me (his ex) staying here.



Now, for those of you who couldn't make it this time to The Bourgeois Pig...you've got to get over here whether there's live music or not! Check out this cookie! It was so delicious...and almost bigger than my head!



So tonight, I get to sleep on a nice comfy couch in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Not too shabby! I have been thinking about home and hoping that everything is going well for Bryan and Buddy there, and believe it or not, just as I was thinking about them this photo came into my inbox. Are you kidding me? I leave for a week and the dog is being walked on a power strip cord?? Somebody mail Bryan a leash!



Goodnight!

Painesville Rules.

I know it's morning, but I only have a few minutes (I need to hit the road to Chicago...) and really wanted to get this posted!! Here's what I wrote last night! See you later at the Bourgeois Pig in Chicago!

Ok, so it's a quick blog entry tonight because I'm really tired, and have a lot of driving to do tomorrow!! First of all, leaving PA was fine, but I was a little sad that I didn't see any Amish buggies along the interstate. (Believe me, I was looking...for some reason I've loved the Amish since I was a little kid.) So, when I pulled into the "Welcome to Ohio" rest stop, you can imagine how excited I was when I found some Amish Cheddar Cheese Corn...a.k.a. cheese popcorn. It was delicious! I tried to eat the entire bag, but couldn't quite finish, so I'll see if I can finish it up tomorrow.



While I was driving, I also had another HUGE driving reminder that I was no longer in New England...I saw my first Waffle House sighting of the trip! I didn't stop in, because I really wanted to get into town, but I snapped a quick photo out of the window.



The drive from Pittsburgh to Cleveland isn't that long, and it's really quite easy. But I took my time and stopped to get gas, lunch, etc. I made sure that I was feeling wide awake. When I arrived in Painesville (which is where I played, just outside of Cleveland) I stopped in to visit the couple that I was staying with. Now I've never met these people before, they're friends of friends, so I was a little nervous at first. But I was put to ease instantly when a man (closely resembling David Crosby) walked out of the door to welcome me. There's a photo coming up, but you're not going to believe the likeness between this guy and Crosby. Amazing. Anyway, he told me to unload my stuff when I could because there was a parade in town and he wanted to make sure that I would be able to park and unload my stuff at the venue. Everything worked out well, I unloaded my duffle bag at his house and then brought my guitar and keyboard over to The Rider Inn so that we could start getting set up.

As I was getting set up, again, the parade was mentioned to me, so I decided to head out and see what I was missing. Am I glad that I did? Absolutely. I took TONS of photos. A guy that was sitting next to me, actually asked me if I knew someone in the parade because I was taking so many. Whatever.

This first photo is just amazing...have you ever seen a 4-H group pulled in a parade by a huge tractor?!



Ok, photo #2, also amazing...have you ever seen a State Representative promote his/her office with a huge silver rocket ship?



Photo #3, if I love the Amish, it's partly because I love horses so much, so I just had to take this photo...they're so pretty!!



Ok, and the last parade photo was completely necessary...this town has it's own department of mosquito control. Seriously. The guy who asked me why I was taking so many pictures let me know how important this department was. I am now informed as to why Painesville, OH needs mosquito control.



Soon after the parade the show started. I had a great time. This is a cool place (The Rider Inn) with a lounge/tavern room and that's where I played. Upon speaking with some of the workers I found out that this place used to be a part of the Underground Railroad. Now, again, if you know me at all, the fact that I saw Amish popcorn, horses, and hung out in a place that was a part of the Underground Railroad, you know that by this point I was going nuts! Harriet Tubman was one of my heroes as a child!! I know it may make me strange, but I don't care.

Besides that, they believe that the place is haunted. It was built in 1812, and the innkeeper's third wife, Suzanne, mysteriously died near the fireplace (where I was playing!!). They have had ghost hunters come and stay with them (even the show came and filmed there, including filming in the old underground railroad tunnels...which by the way the manager goes into all of the time, but can't bring me under there because they aren't up to code...believe me, I asked) and as many as 10 different spirits have been detected there. I don't believe in ghosts, but I'd love to see one, so the manager showed me some photos. It was pretty cool.

Back to my new friends Charlie and Jackie Brown. I mentioned Charlie earlier (the David Crosby look-a-like). We had a great time since Charlie has been a professional musician for almost 50 years! That's how he has made his living his entire life. Amazing. He played a few songs tonight, and I was blown away. This man just suffered a stroke a few months ago, so he can't play with a pick anymore (his right hand just can't grip that way) but his finger-picking will blow your mind. I have a video if you want to see it when I'm back in town. His advice to me at the end of the night..."keep fightin' the good fight, kid." Anyway, here I am with my new friend Charlie, he was making me laugh really hard. Doesn't he just seem like someone that you want to meet?!?!



Last photo, I promise. The host of the evening, and the man who made my visit possible...Jim Snively (www.jimsnively.com). I met him last year in Cleveland, and I'm so happy that I did. He brought in an audience for me to play for, he hooked me up with Charlie and Jackie Brown, and he walked around with a tip jar to help me make some gas $$. He's a good guy, and I'm so lucky to know him!



Off to Chicago tomorrow....whew...that's a long drive!

Pittsburgh....and now off to Cleveland!

Driving yesterday was pretty easy. I was able to use cruise control (something that never happens at home because we always have traffic) so that made the trip much easier! The only crazy thing...it was soooo hot. I took photos as my temperature gage kept climbing.

I thought 90 degrees was hot...



Then it reached 91...



Then it jumped to 95...



It got to 96...



and peaked at 97!



Sorry for the many photos...maybe I was better off earlier this tour with Vanessa as my travel companion!! Or last year with Gaby?! Ah well, this trip I have my camera. Pennsylvania is really beautiful, so I tried to take a few pictures out of the window to show you how nice it is.



On this drive, I got a little bored, and I was really hot, (even with my air conditioning going full blast) so I decided to take a nice long lunch in the air conditioned rest stop. And guess what? They had a Chili's there! Now, for anyone who knows me at all, you know that I live for their queso dip, and this dip did NOT disappoint. I was totally psyched. I of course couldn't finish the order by myself, but I tried my very best.



I arrived into Pittsburgh just before I needed to get to Club Cafe, so I was only able to stop briefly at my friend Heather's house. (www.heatherkropf.com) She is crazy busy right now with life and lots of shows (we're playing together next week when I come back through) so I was so grateful that she let me stay at her place! From her house I went right to Club Cafe where I got to meet a bunch of really great people. Again, this year, Pittsburgh was a great experience. I had a lot of fun, and people were really receptive to my songs. Not only did I get to see Heather again, (I shared a show with her last year on tour) but I also got to see my friend Joy (www.joyike.com) who I also played with last year! It was really fun to catch up with both of them. They're really talented, and I feel so lucky to have such great connections in this town.

Anyway, here's blurry photo of Joy playing last night, she did a great job, and I really liked hearing some of her new songs!



Today, I am off to Cleveland (in a matter of moments, actually) and I'll be playing in Painesville tonight at The Rider's Inn. I'm very excited to see some friends from last year, and again, to meet new people! I'm just going to fill up my iced tea one more time (another great coffee shop find...Enrico's Tazza D'Oro...please check them out if you're around!!) in this environmentally friendly cup made entirely from plants and I'm on my way!



Thanks for all of the great e-mails, phone calls, facebook posts, etc. I really appreciate the love and encouragement!!

Albright College

Sorry, I wrote this last night, but didn't have an internet connection, so I had to wait to post it! Here you go...

So I had a few more adventures this afternoon. It was great! I got to spend a lot more time at Hard Bean Coffee using their internet and eating some of their delicious food (an amazing banana muffin!) and drinking iced tea. If you live in the area you need to stop in! It's a nice atmosphere, the staff is really friendly, and they have great prices!

I walked around a little bit in West Reading, and then met Steve for dinner in Reading. He of course drove us around in his old Mustang from high school...it was just like the old days. Here it is parked in front of the Reading Railroad. That's right, think monopoly!



Here's Steve in his Albright gear posing in the 'stang.



Also, I took a photo of Steve's house. Isn't it nice? I drew a little arrow so that you could see the guest room and picture where I was sleeping!



After dinner with Steve, he had to go back to work, so I took a little drive and ended up at The Reading Pagoda! It's crazy! And it's something everyone stops in to see when they visit Reading, so I had to stop in too.



After getting back to campus I took a little stroll...



I wandered onto the football field! (But didn't stay very long because I felt like someone was going to yell at me!)



All around the campus there are these red adirondack chairs, so I decided to sit in one for a moment and try out my new camera's timer. It worked...



And for the last thing, I had to check out the Music Department. (I showed this photo to Steve, and he didn't even know this existed!!) I walked around a little bit in the building, but all of the practice rooms were locked, so I'll have to check out the inside another time.



*****Now for today! This morning I went to football practice for a few minutes. It's about 90 degrees out there...I was sweating just watching those guys run around in all of their gear. I can't believe how hot they must be! Anyway, it was cool to see Steve in his element...it's always fun to see people that I grew up with living real adult lives, you know? These kids are scared of him too...he's a tough coach! (I circled Steve in red because it's hard to see him, and that's the Albright color!)



Right now I'm finishing this up at Hard Bean Coffee (I couldn't resist another one of the Ruby Lemon Mint Iced teas....seriously if you live within driving distance you've got to stop in! (600 Penn Ave if you have a navigation system.)

Off to Pittsburgh today! So I'll be on the road...hopefully I'll see some cool stuff and be able to tell you about it later!

West Reading, PA

This has been a very sleepy day for me! I arrived last night at my friend Steve's house just before 3 a.m. I guess I was a little tired since I thought this would be an interesting picture...



It was a very easy drive, I didn't hit much traffic (amazing that I hit ANY...) and the Garmin led me right to Steve's front door. A few hitches in our plan...Steve told me just to come in and the guest room would be all set up for me - it was, I just had no idea where the guest room was. Also, I expected Steve to be in the house alone, but there was a big guy on the living room couch. So, I made some calls and woke him up (sorry, Steve!) because I got really nervous that I had walked into the wrong house. Wouldn't THAT have made for a great story!!

So this morning, I had to get up much earlier than I wanted to (sleeping in is possibly one of my favorites hobbies), but I got to play at a cool place called Hard Bean Coffee.



I knew that I was going to be playing during the hours of the town Farmers Market, but I wasn't sure exactly what the set up was going to be. I was very very pleased by what I found! The Farmers Market was really cute and on a very nice street, with a lot of shoppers. (I'm planning on checking out some of the shops later...Vanessa, there are more thrift stores!!)



The only problem with playing outside was...it was about a billion degrees out here today. (I broke my own personal rule of wearing shorts in public...that's how hot it is! And yes, Bryan, they're my purple shorts and they are awesome!) So, I played inside to all of the other people who were trying to cool off with iced coffees or tea. It was great! I got a lot of people to sign up on my mailing list (that is always really encouraging, because it makes me think that I'm actually growing a bit of a fan base) and I sold a bunch of CDs. That's always really encouraging because it means I can pay for gas and keep driving to the next gig. :)

Anyway, the owner, Terry, is a really nice guy who worked really hard to help me promote this morning's show, and it really paid off. Again...I was on the sidewalk! And we all know that it makes me feel very cool when that happens!!



Ok, off to explore the town a bit, then out to dinner with Steve. I may have more photos to share with you tonight, but if not...I'll certainly have something new for you tomorrow!